Kingsley Suamataia Skyrockets Up Ranking of Chiefs Players After Bounce-Back Second Season

What a difference a year makes. Roughly 12 months ago, Kansas City Chiefs second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia was in the midst of a vitally important and uncertain offseason. As a rookie, Suamataia started the first two games of his NFL career at left tackle before being benched late in Week 2.

Suamataia was active for most of the rest of the season, but his time as a tackle was over. When the Chiefs traded guard Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears last offseason, Suamataia had a path to return to the starting lineup if he could take advantage of the opportunity.

As we continue to rank our top 25 Chiefs for the 2026 season here on Chiefs On SI, I'm confident that Suamataia would not have placed anywhere on the list if we had done this exercise last season. This year, Suamataia skyrockets to No. 11.

Why Kingsley Suamataia Is So Important

With Josh Simmons at left tackle and Creed Humphrey at center, Suamataia has the most variance of anyone on his side of the offensive line. First, he needed to be at least competent in 2025 in order to dull the loss of Thuney and to give Kansas City flexibility with a younger, cheaper guard between Simmons and Humphrey. Suamataia passed his test last season.

Now, can he help KC develop a truly dominant force in the trenches?

If Suamataia continues to grow and develop, KC's O-line (completed by Trey Smith and Jaylon Moore on the right side) should be one of the league's strongest. If Suamataia stagnates and is the exact same player he was last year, the Chiefs' line should still be better than most.

Suamataia's Strengths and Weaknesses

Suamataia can suffer some quick losses in pass protection, which is a cardinal sin for interior offensive linemen in particular, but some of those misses were to be expected, especially early in the 2025 season when Suamataia was acclimating to playing guard at the NFL level.

Even in his short-lived stint at left tackle as a rookie, Suamataia's highlights came as a weapon on the ground.

XAVIER WORTHY TOUCHDOWN ON THE FIRST TOUCH OF HIS CAREER
pic.twitter.com/AWwFDCs5Up
— Footballism (@FootbaIIism) September 6, 2024

The Chiefs' running game was holistically disappointing in 2025, making it harder to judge Suamataia and the rest of KC's interior O-line. This season, with returning offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and new running back Kenneth Walker III, there's room for Suamataia to be a part of a livelier offense.

What Happens If Suamataia Gets Hurt?

Last season, the Chiefs' sixth lineman and backup interior lineman was Mike Caliendo, who took nearly 40% of the team's offensive snaps as Smith battled injury and the tackle spots were unsettled. Caliendo had some particularly poor moments in tough positions, but he's still the incumbent on the interior. 2024 fifth-round pick Hunter Nourzad played just 28 offensive snaps before getting a full workload (64 snaps) at guard in the team's season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Chiefs have some interesting names to watch in their backup tackle battles, but the interior depth appears to belong to Caliendo and Nourzad for now.

Why We Ranked Suamataia Here

As I mentioned in my write-up of linebacker Nick Bolton (ranked No. 13), players No. 10-13 were all extremely close on our board. I'd have no problem dropping Suamataia behind Bolton or wide receiver Xavier Worthy (No. 12), but Suamataia earned the edge here in part due to the size of the leap he took between his first and second seasons.

Now that Suamataia has proven his value as a reliable starting guard, it's easy to be swept up by his athletic tools that could help him take another stride into his third season. He saved his NFL career last year with a bounce-back season following a disastrous rookie campaign. He still has work to do, but the arrow is firmly pointing up for Suamataia.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google